AT A MEETING of the TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE JOINT COMMITTEE of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL, SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL AND PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL held at Sir James Matthews Building Southampton on 30 June 2009.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

Councillor M.J. Kendal - Executive Member for Environment

Keith Willcox - Project Director, Transport for South Hampshire

Tom Niedrum - Head of Finance

Geoff Hobbs - Senior Transport Planner

Portsmouth City Council

Councillor Lynne Stagg - Executive Member for Traffic and Transportation

John Slater - Head of Planning Services

Southampton City Council

Councillor Matthew Dean - Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport

Phil Marshall - Regional Transport Planner

Frank Baxter - Travel and Transport Policy Manager

Stuart Jarvis - Managing Director, PUSH

Alastair Rankine - Audit Commission

Kate Handy - Audit Commission

David Cooper - Government Office for the South East

Josie Rogers - Network Rail

Dean Pettitt - South West Trains

Observers

Eastleigh Borough Council:

Councillor David Airey

Paul Walker

Fareham Borough Council

David Swanbrow

Andy Viccars

Gosport Borough Council

Councillor Peter Langdon

David Duckett

Test Valley Borough Council

Vivien Messenger

1 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

Cllr M.J. Kendal confirmed that he was happy to continue in the role as Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor M.J. Kendal be appointed Chairman of the Joint Committee

2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Chris Treleaven, New Forest District Council; Paul Robinson, Highways Agency; Gordon Telling, Freight Transport Association; Alasdair Couper-Johnston, Network Rail; Jackie Batchelor, Havant Borough Council; Graham Ellis, Hampshire Economic Partnership; Neil Pearce, SEEDA and David Lees, Southampton International Airport.

3 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally at the time of the debate declare their interest, and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code.

There were no declarations made by Members under this item.

4 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman reported on some recent developments. Members were informed that the recent A3 zip corridor launch of new buses from First Group were launched by Jonathan Shaw MP Regional Minister for the South East. The Chairman attended with Cllr Lynne Stagg and Richard Soper, Managing Director of First Group and Chairman of SHBOA.

It had been a successful event giving Cllr Stagg and the Chairman the opportunity to talk to the Minister about the A3 scheme, the low emissions and new floor buses and the Committee's wider ambitions across South Hampshire, including future phases of BRT. The Minister was well informed and was aware of PUSH, and of the Committee's transport agenda. He had appeared impressed with the partnership working arrangements that were in place in South Hampshire.

The Chairman then reminded the Committee, Cllr Stagg and Cllr Dean, that the next meeting of the Regional Transport Board was to be held on 24 July in London, when it was hoped that all the Committee would be able to attend and keep the profile of Transport for South Hampshire (TfSH) high, especially at a time when the DaSTS priority studies for the South East Region are being discussed.

Finally, the Chairman reported on an email received last week from Martin Tugwell, the Director of Regional Investment at the South East England Partnership Board. The email was in relation to the DaSTS Work Programme and set out the South East's proposed DaSTS work programme, which was currently being considered by the Regional Transport Board members, and asked for views on:

Is the Committee content for TfSH to take on a lead role for the region's second priority study, covering South Hampshire?

Due to the tight timescale for comments, Keith Willcox had already responded on this matter explaining that TfSH was keen and able to take a lead role and made a few further supportive comments on the subject.

The Chairman asked whether the Committee was happy with this approach, to which they agreed they were.

5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 29 APRIL 2009

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 29 April 2009 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to Viv Messenger from Test Valley Borough Council being added to those shown as present at the meeting.

6 TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS PLAN - REVIEW OF PLAN 2007-2009 AND ADOPTION OF PLAN 2009-2011

The Committee considered the report of the Hampshire Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) detailing the performance of the first Business Plan 2007-2009, and the proposed Business Plan for 2009-2011.

Keith Willcox introduced the report and explained status and comments column within the report with its red, amber and green structure to show whether an activity was completed, on track or falling behind. Several items listed as `red' were discussed together with the reasons for these outcomes. However, the Committee recognised that a majority of the statuses listed were either amber or green and they felt that the past two years had been very successful.

Particular attention was drawn to the importance of the plan remaining as a `living document' and one which is able to respond to change depending on the economic climate and funding/resources available. Also, the importance of working collectively on projects was emphasised.

RESOLVED:

That the Joint Committee:

i) Notes the performance against the Business Plan for 2007-2009.

ii) Approves the Transport for South Hampshire Business Plan for 2009-2011 for adoption by the constituent authorities, subject to funding being assembled to meet additional resource costs in line with the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire growth agenda.

7 TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS

The Committee received a presentation by Alastair Rankine and Kate Handy from the Audit Commission (Item 6(i) in the Minute Book) which explained that as TfSH was now a statutory body, it required an official audit. This included a review of financial statements and reports on value for money, judging whether arrangements in place were effective and a good use of resources. Members questioned the level of audit charges and noted that a breakdown of this information had been provided to the County Treasurer and that the work undertaken as part of the audit was based on the minimum requirements needed for the inspection to go ahead. Also, the Committee were reassured that appropriate procedures were in place in relation to governance and responsibility issues with appropriate guidance being followed. It was noted that Mark Heath, Solicitor to Southampton City Council was the Monitoring Officer for TfSH and that he had been involved and satisfied about this. The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 6(ii) in the Minute Book) about the final budget outturn for the year 2008/09, and seeking approval to the Draft Statement of Accounts for 2008/09.

Tom Niedrum introduced and highlighted the main details contained within the report.

RESOLVED:

That the Joint Committee:

i) Notes the final outturn for revenue and capital budgets for the 2008/09 financial year and agree to the carry forward of under spends of £134,000 on revenue budgets and £700,000 on capital budgets to 2009/10.

ii) Approves the Annual Governance Statement on pages 6 to 13 of the Statement of Accounts 2008/09, which were subsequently signed by the Chairman and Project Director

iii) Approves the Draft Statement of Accounts for the 2008/09 financial year which were subsequently signed by the Chairman and Project Director .

8 VISION FOR FUTURE OF RAIL IN URBAN SOUTH HAMPSHIRE

The Committee considered the report of the Hampshire Senior Transport Planner (Item 8 in the Minute Book) identifying proposed priorities for rail infrastructure investment within the sub-region over the next thirty years. Geoff Hobbs introduced the report which highlighted the enabling role rail can play in supporting planned growth within the sub-region, it suggested 11 priority interventions that would make rail more attractive for local residents and employers and address current and future capacity constraints.

During a full discussion, members made various observations and comments on the list of priority infrastructure requests and did not feel that it was helpful to show separate requirements for the longer term. They felt further detail was required on issues of service frequencies and connections along with information setting out the infrastructure `gaps' and problems and giving the reasons why steps need to be taken, rather than simply set out a proposed set of solutions. Network Rail plan to look at a wide range of interventions and approaches which may reveal easier or more economical ways of solving an issue. The various points raised by the Committee were noted by the officer concerned who undertook to update Network Rail who had already been sent a copy of the priority list.

RESOLVED:

i) That subject to inclusion of the points raised by Members, the Route Utilisation Strategy be adopted by the Joint Committee as the TfSH vision for the future of rail in South Hampshire.

ii) That the paper be developed into a Rail Strategy for South Hampshire, to form part of the emerging Local Transport Plan 3.

iii) That officers be asked to make a robust case for investment in priority rail infrastructure projects within the sub-region partnership with Network Rail and Government stakeholders, in order to seek funding for their delivery.

9 LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 3 - OPTIONS FOR TRANSPORT FOR SOUTH HAMPSHIRE

The Committee considered the report from the Portsmouth Head of Planning Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the draft guidance for the production of the next Local Transport Plan (LTP) and the possible ways forward to prepare a common LTP Strategy for the Transport for South Hampshire area.

It was reported that LTP3 would need to work for all areas and include some common policies. To be successful joint working would be very important and all authorities would have to be happy with the proposals. In response to possible concern about smaller schemes, the Committee were assured that the longer term strategy would include a three year implementation plan and therefore prevent smaller projects from being overlooked.

RESOLVED:

i) That the Joint Committee notes the draft Guidance on the preparation of the next Local Transport Plan round.

ii) That in order to maximise the time available the Joint Committee authorises officers to progress work on the preparation of Local Transport Plans to cover the Transport for South Hampshire area on the basis of the draft guidance.

iii) That once final Department for Transport guidance is published, officers are instructed to consider the document and in a report to a future meeting advise on any new requirements that might make the constituent Transport for South Hampshire authorities wish to reconsider their approach.